Idham Chalid

Idham Chalid (27 August 1921 – 11 July 2010) was an Indonesian politician and religious leader. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United Development Party. He also served as chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly and chairman of the People's Representative Council from 1972 until 1977. A prominent leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama.

He was appointed a National Hero of Indonesia, along with 6 other figures, based on Presidential Decree No. 113/TK/Year 2011 dated 7 November 2011. On 19 December 2016, he was immortalized in the redesigned Rp. 5.000 rupiah banknote.

Early life and education

Early life Idham Chalid was born on August 27, 1921, in Satui, Tanah Bumbu regency, in the southeast portion of South Kalimantan. He is the eldest of five children. His father was Muhammad Chalid, a person from Amuntai, about 200 kilometers from Banjarmasin. When he was six years old, his family moved to Amuntai and lived in the Tangga Ulin area, his father's ancestral hometown.

Education He was admitted to the second grade of Amuntai People's School (SR). After graduating from there, he continued his education to Madrasah Ar-Rasyidiyyah in 1922. Idham continued his education at the Gontor Islamic Boarding School located in Ponorogo, East Java. Becoming fluent in a number of languages, including Japanese. After graduating from Gontor, 1943, he continued his education in Jakarta. In the capital, his fluency resulted in him being employed as a translator between the Japanese and the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Around this time, he graduated from an Islamic teaching college, and would go on to work as a teacher at Islamic institutes from 1943-1945. He was buried in the grounds of the Darul Qur`an Islamic Boarding School complex in Cisarua, Bogor. He was named a National Hero of Indonesia based on 113/TK/Tahun Presidential Decree No. 2011 dated 7 November 2011. He became the third Banjarese to receive the title.